Slut Walk TLV

Who doesn’t know this scenario?
You’re walking down the street, wearing shorts and a tank top, and as soon as you’ve stepped out of the house, you’ve become public property: “Check it out, what a fine pussy.” / “What I would do to you…” / “That rack on you…” / “That ass!” / “Why aren’t you smiling?!” / “How come you won’t answer when I’m talking to you? Stuck up!” / “Who do you think you are? Slut!”

Slut.
Because you got out of your house, wore whatever clothes you felt comfortable in – your body automatically does not belong to you anymore. You are the star of the show whether you like to or not. A show in which your body is public domain: because how dare you even go out in public with a body, you slut??

Slut.
From this second – once you left the house – as far as the police is concerned, as far as the court is concerned, as far as ministers in the government, officers in the army… as far as the society we live in is concerned – you brought “it” on yourself. Whatever “it” is. The catcalling in the streets, the fear of walking in the streets alone at night, that man offering you money for sex, the guy who touched you, your rape, your murder. You are perceived as guilty. As you are perceived as always asking for it. As a slut.

We are saying – no. no one, but really, no one, has ever asked for it. No one deserves to live in fear. No one asks to undergo sexual violence. Not one of the 24 women who have been murdered in the past year – has brought it upon herself. And contrary to popular belief, not woman is asking to hear the opinions of random men in the street on her body, her sex life, or in fact – anything about her.
We walk down the street – and our bodies are not spectacles for anyone’s enjoyment.
We dress up, put on makeup (or don’t), wear nail polish (or don’t), wear high heels (or don’t) – and it’s not a message for men. It is simply and literally because that’s what we want to wear, clothes can be worn for comfort and fun – and mainly – for us. We are not asking for anything using our clothes, and we are certainly not guilty of the sexual violence that is being directed at us.

Like every year since 2011, we will march and we will shout out that “my body isn’t a sexual object!
We will protest with all our might against victim blaming – because “no” means “no” – no matter what you wore or where you were or how many men you slept with before. We will explain that the sole reason for sexual violence – is rapists and sexual harassers and attackers, not the length of a skirt or the depth of a neckline. We will show them that “slut” is a slang that was invented to weaken us, to blame us for crimes that are done against us – and we refuse to be silenced.

Join us. Together we are strong.
The 2017 SlutWalk, Tel Aviv, May 12th
Gathering at 10:00, Gordon beach. We’ll march towards Habima Square where we’ll gather for some speeches.